Taro T

Montreal beating the Rags. The Yotes might manage to get to 32 afterall. Probably need Florida to rest key guys in the final game, but they just might pull it off.

Pacioretty tying it late in the 2nd.

If the Marlies win tomorrow could see that happen for Friday's game. Doubt they do it before the Amerks are eliminated officially.

Yep. But at least they're only MOSTLY dead. 1 more Marlie win or a regulation loss by the Amerks & they're officially toast. Anybody have Miracle Max' phone #?

Vegas broadcast is giving updates on the Dallas game. Seems there's no joy in Mudville tonight. Stone being a shell of himself doesn't help their cause. He should still be on the shelf IMHO.

Is it easier to take if the Sabres having won in the "Jack Eichel" game is considered as the reason that Eichel's assist wouldn't be the clinching assist?

Yep.

Eichel w/ the assist for Chicago. Hawks back uo. 3-2.

Going to OT. Marlies magic # down to 3. Can drop to 2 picking up the bonus point. Amerks magic # still at 5. Can drop to 4 if Laval wins.

Laval tied it late in the 3rd. 4-4. 2 minutes left in regulation.

Toronto & Laval tied 1/2 way through the 2nd 3-3. TO has 3 games left including tonight. Amerks 1 left. Amerks need 5 of those 8 points to go their way. Marlies need 4. If Laval can pull it out in regulation,TO still controls their destiny, but their margin of error falls precipitously and the Amerks game could be very important. Update. 3 minutes left in the 2nd. TO now up 4-3. Grrrrrrr.

Except Hutton wasn't. He was a FA signing.

Could never figure out HOW he KNEW that! (Couldn't believe an adult would just make something like that up. He had to have been psychic! (D'oh!))

Not a center. Doesn't count. 😉

Bernie Nicholls. Several good seasons surrounding 1 TRUE meteoric 1st Line C season. And depending upon how you're defining "sustain" it, Jimmy Carson. Would argue Ciccarelli fits the bill as well.

🍺

If he can do it for a full year next year, will say he's a 1C. But speaking as 1 who believes there's only ~10-15 TRUE #1's in the league, can't put him there yet. Hope he gets there. But no shame in being 1 of 3 (or dare we say 4? Can dream/hope, right?) 2C's which they very well could have starting next year or the year after.

Figured they would get named to it. Nice to see it actually happen. 🍺

Realize that you're just spitballin' right now, but IF Vegas being essentially eliminated & Chicago still has a bad taste in their mouth from their last game in Vegas allows Vegas to drop tonight's game, 15 is still very much in play. Vegas ends in St. Louis & the 'Nucks have a Gretzky Trade Series preview working and those 2 only have a question as to who will host that series left to be decided. The 'Nucks could still get past Vegas. Wouldn't have any money on it, but it is possible. And, if the Sabres beat the Bruins, could see them pass one of SJ or Anaheim as well. Which is better? 9 & 16 or 10 & 15? Personally hoping for 10 & 15 w/ a little lottery ball magic.

Ballparking it, would say there's ~14,000 seats sold at present. (Somewhere between 13-16,000 are not available eyeballing it on the website.) So, since the game is in 2 days and people will get FOMO disease watching the Bruins game, will guess final tally will be anywhere from 18k to a sellout.

True, and it is OK to do so. But still expect them to run 13-8 on the big roster when all are healthy for logistics reasons. They won't lose Peterka to waivers starting him in Ra-cha-cha, so unless he absolutely forces a spot from day 1 (possible, but still expect they want him to work a little more on a couple of things down on the farm), he'll start the year as an Amerk (but likely be up by Thanksgiving). And if Bjork gets waiver claimed, no huge loss.

Been saying for a while that there's a very real possibility he starts the year in Ra-cha-cha. Would be surprised if the Sabres carry 14 healthy Fs next season. Teams keep up 8 D-men & only 1 spare F because it is easier to organize drills w/ 4 full D-pairings & only rotatingn1 F through than to have 3 pairs rotating an extra D through & 2 Fs through. The standard has been 13-8 for several seasons now.

They've been doing the Mixhalo thing most, if not the entire, season.

Draft order goes pretty much off RS points w/ the reverse of RS tie Breakers for when 2 teams tie for a draft pick slot. I.e., The team w/ fewer RS wins gets the better pick if they both have the same # of points. Picks 1 & 2 go to the lottery winners (if they were in slots 1-11 or 1-12 prelottery - teams can only move up 10 slots max). The rest of slots 1-16 go in reverse order of points for the 16 non-playoff teams. Slots 17-28 go to the losers of rounds 1 & 2 in reverse order of finish with any of the 4 division winners slotted at the back of the order. Slots 29 & 30 go to the semifinal losers. Slot 31 goes to the SC loser. Slot 32 goes to the SC winner.

Nashville IS in the playoffs because the 9th place team in the West can only at best tie them in the standings and tie them for the 1st end of season tiebreaker. They both can get to 95 points and 35 regulation wins. But Vegas can only get to 40 R/OT wins & Nashville has 41. R/OT wins is the 2nd EoS tiebreaker, so the Preds are in. (They MIGHT win on total points &/or RWs, but they DO win on R/OT Ws.) I've simply been explaining WHY Nashville can correctly claim they've clinched a playoff spot when a casual glance at the standings says Vegas can still catch them. (They can, but they can't. 😉 )